Russia has sent a U.S. satellite into space atop a Proton rocket, in the first launch of one of the workhorses of Moscow's space program in a year following a series of setbacks.

The Proton-M rocket carrying the Echostar-21 satellite was "successfully launched" from the Russian-leased Baikonur Cosmodrome in southern Kazakhstan on June 8, the Russian space agency Roscosmos said.

"All the phases went off as scheduled," a statement said.

Echostar-21 is set to be put into its designated orbit just before 4 p.m. Moscow time.